Megalithic monuments in Ireland typically represent one of several types of

megalithic tomb A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

court cairn The court cairn or court tomb is a megalithic type of chambered cairn or gallery grave. During the period, 3900–3500 BCE, more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in southwest Scotland. The Neolithic (New Stone Ag ...

passage tomb A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...

s, portal tombs and wedge tombs. The remains of over 1,000 such megalithic tombs have been recorded around

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

Types

Court tombs

These tombs have an open east-facing entrance court which leads into a number of rectangular chambers (up to four). The chambers are roofed on the inside by

corbelling In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...

. Each of these chambers may contain inhumations and

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre ...

remains. Surrounding these chambers is a low dry stone wall with orthostats at the extremities. Sometimes they are called a lobster-claw cairn

Passage tombs

The passage tomb is a large mound of earth or stone with a narrow passage leading from outside to a central chamber or chambers. Examples of this type include

Newgrange Newgrange ( ga, Sí an Bhrú) is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, located on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, west of Drogheda. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 32 ...

Knowth Knowth (; ga, Cnóbha) is a Neolithic passage grave and an ancient monument of the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne located 8.4 km west of Drogheda in Ireland's valley of the River Boyne. It is the largest passage grave of the Br ...

, and

Dowth Dowth ( ga, Dubhadh) is a Neolithic passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. It is one of the three principal tombs of the ''Brú na Bóinne'' World Heritage Sitea landscape of prehistoric monuments including the la ...

Portal tombs

Portal tombs (often referred to as dolmens) are mainly located in the northern half of the country. Such tombs have a straight sided chamber often narrowed at the rear. The entrance is marked by tall portal stones. On top lies a huge single cap stone resting on the portal stones on the front and sloping at the rear where it rests on the backstone. In the majority of cases the tomb entrance faces the east towards the sunrise. This is not always the case though as many tombs face different directions. Examples of portal tombs include Kilmogue, County Kilkenny;

Poulnabrone Poulnabrone dolmen (Poll na Brón in Irish) is an unusually large dolmen or portal tomb located in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. Situated on one of the most desolate and highest points of the region, it comprises three standing portal st ...

in the Burren, County Clare; and Knockeen, County Waterford.

Wedge tombs

These tombs are generally found in the west and north west of Ireland. Their sloping roof and narrowing walls at one end produce their characteristic wedge shape.

Distribution by province

The number and location of tombs in each province of Ireland are recorded by the Irish National Monument Service (Republic of Ireland) and in the Northern Ireland Sites & Monuments Record (Northern Ireland). The distribution of each type of tomb, by province, can be summarised as: Many hundreds of other "unclassified" megalithic tombs and sites are also recorded.

References

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External links

Irish Megaliths: Field Guide & Photographs by Anthony Weir

Megalithomania: The Home of Irish Prehistory

Megalithic Ireland.com

The Sacred Island

Megalithic tombs of the Boyne Valley, Ireland
* Tombs in the Republic of Ireland